Social media can make or break job applicants

A recent Career Builder survey found 52 percent of employers claim to use social networking sites to research job candidates.

If you're hunting for a job, you may want to pay much closer attention to any personal social media accounts and your overall online presence.

A recent Career Builder survey found 52 percent of employers claim to use social networking sites to research job candidates, and if they can't find you online, one-third of employers say you probably won't even get an interview.

Jessica Martin-Cate with career services at Culver-Stockton says social media plays a critical role in today's workforce, and it's something being stressed to college students.

"It's part of getting a job now, there's no way around it," Martin-Cate said. "Your online presence is almost as important as you sitting in front of them in an interview, because if they hire you, your online presence reflects on them as well. It's the world we live in now."

Martin-Cate also says Facebook isn't the only site employers will be checking.

"Twitter and Instagram, for sure, and Snapchat is really becoming big within the marketplace, with webinars growing on how to market to people through (Snapchat)," she said. "So I think that's going to become more accessible to employers down the road."

Local employers say they're looking for information that can help confirm things on your resume, as well as anything that would reflect unprofessional behavior.

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